Best CPUs for video editing and 3D 2026

Rendering, video export and scene baking push every core to the limit, so more cores and threads at a decent clock win here. Workstation chips with dozens of cores pull ahead the most.

#	CPU	Type	Task score	cores/threads	Score
1	Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E-96-100	Laptop	100.0	18 / 18	80.33
2	Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E-94-100	Laptop	96.8	18 / 18	77.13
3	Core Ultra 9 285HX	Laptop	89.9	24 / 24	72.57
4	Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus	Laptop	89.9	24 / 24	72.57
5	Ryzen AI Max+ 395	Laptop	86.3	16 / 32	70.63
6	Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-90-100	Laptop	85.1	18 / 18	71.79
7	Ryzen 9 9955HX	Laptop	84.2	16 / 32	70.65
8	Ryzen 9 9955HX3D	Laptop	84.2	16 / 32	70.65
9	Core i9-13980HX	Laptop	83.7	24 / 32	67.93
10	Core Ultra 9 275HX	Laptop	82.8	24 / 24	68.09
11	Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-88-100	Laptop	80.0	18 / 18	67.49
12	Core i9-14900HX	Laptop	74.7	24 / 32	63.51
13	Apple M5 Max 18-core	Laptop	74.6	18 / 18	66.96
14	Apple M5 Pro 18-core	Laptop	74.6	18 / 18	66.96
15	Ryzen 9 7945HX	Laptop	74.3	16 / 32	62.37
16	Ryzen 9 8945HX	Laptop	74.3	16 / 32	62.37
17	Core Ultra 7 265HX	Laptop	73.3	20 / 20	62.29
18	Ryzen 9 7945HX3D	Laptop	72.4	16 / 32	61.29
19	Ryzen 9 8940HX	Laptop	72.4	16 / 32	60.93
20	Core Ultra 7 255HX	Laptop	71.9	20 / 20	61.11
21	Core i9-13950HX	Laptop	71.9	24 / 32	60.83
22	Ryzen 9 7940HX	Laptop	71.5	16 / 32	60.02
23	Core i9-13900HX	Laptop	71.0	24 / 32	59.94
24	Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus	Laptop	69.2	20 / 20	59.91
25	Ryzen AI Max 390	Laptop	65.5	12 / 24	58.30

Compare the top two: Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E-96-100 vs Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E-94-100 →

How we rank

Formula: multi-core speed. In Premiere or DaVinci the graphics card matters a lot too — it speeds up effects and encoding.

The score is our own estimate from the specs (cores, threads, clocks, architecture generation), not a benchmark run. 100 = the fastest CPU in our database.